The 'broken' Heist

[mtshark7]

I purchased The Heist game and the game shows the title screen, then I press 1 to start playing and it says level 1, then the next screen it shows the first level and freezes and doesn't do anything.

 

Has anyone on here had any issues with this game? I came across two so far with the same result, I also cleaned both games thoroughly.

 

Any insight would be great! Thanks!

 

Reading through the manual, could it be possible the game starts off paused? I could of sworn I pressed every button on the keypad with no success of it working.

[Pixelboy]

So I'm assuming you tried both Heist cartridges multiple times, turning the power on and off on every attempt? Have you tried other carts?

 

I haven't played this game in several years, but I did play it on my ADAM a lot, back in the early 80s, and I don't recall any problem like you're having. Perhaps others who own The Heist can do a test or two?

[mtshark7]

yea I tried both carts multiple times...even hit reset as well. All my other 30 some odd carts work perfectly on it. Heck even 2049er, which I believe is the same company, works perfectly, lol.

 

I hope someone could shed some light on this issue I'm having with it.

[Bartsfam]

I just tried mine. As soon as the title screen came up, I hit 1, and then the game loaded and started immediately. The music starts, and the main guy goes to the second floor in an elevator.

Then I was able to play.

 

Also, I noticed on your screen shot, I don't see the elevator, or the guy.

 

Again, all I did was hit the number 1 at the title screen.....

[mtshark7]

I just tried mine. As soon as the title screen came up, I hit 1, and then the game loaded and started immediately. The music starts, and the main guy goes to the second floor in an elevator.

Then I was able to play.

 

Also, I noticed on your screen shot, I don't see the elevator, or the guy.

 

Again, all I did was hit the number 1 at the title screen.....

 

Yea I press 1 on the keypad and then it says level 1 ...then the next screen is what the screen shot shows and it stays in that state.

[jblenkle]

I used to play this game a lot and never, ever had any problems with it. Haven't tried it recently though, I'll have to dig it out and give it a shot as I have a cart not just an emulator image.

[Bartsfam]

I just tried mine. As soon as the title screen came up, I hit 1, and then the game loaded and started immediately. The music starts, and the main guy goes to the second floor in an elevator.

Then I was able to play.

 

Also, I noticed on your screen shot, I don't see the elevator, or the guy.

 

Again, all I did was hit the number 1 at the title screen.....

 

Yea I press 1 on the keypad and then it says level 1 ...then the next screen is what the screen shot shows and it stays in that state.

 

Maybe a bit of "bit rot" in those cartridges.....

[+nanochess]

As far as I know, there is a bug in The Heist that makes it to crash when there is a value in certain place of RAM memory (in fact some Colecovision emulators initialize RAM to 00 to evade this bug)

I suggest to disconnect your Colecovision from AC and replug it again.

With a little luck the next time you plug your CV the RAM memory will have the right value and the game will work.

[SoulBlazer]

As far as I know, there is a bug in The Heist that makes it to crash when there is a value in certain place of RAM memory (in fact some Colecovision emulators initialize RAM to 00 to evade this bug)

I suggest to disconnect your Colecovision from AC and replug it again.

With a little luck the next time you plug your CV the RAM memory will have the right value and the game will work.

 

Boy, that's a weird bug. Never heard that one before.

[mtshark7]

Hmm thats a odd bug...I'll give that a try tomorrow after work. I actually took apart the game and clean out the circuit board and it actually worked...Once!...then after that it hasn't worked again since. I assume that myabe the chips need to be re soldered to the board? I'll try the disconnecting power and see if that works first before I bust out soldering the chips.

[NIAD]

Thanks Nanochess for the heads-up on the possible RAM issue. I would have never thought that some of the contents of RAM could remain in place after turning the system off and leaving the power transformer plugged in. I guess I never ran into this possible issue due to the fact that I always unplug the power transformer when not being used... even back in the day.

[mtshark7]

So I tried unplugging the power, turned the system on and off to drain out leftover power, waited then plugged it back in. Poped the game in and....it worked! I was soo happy, however, I turned it off then back on again and its back to its same old shit again

 

I even tried the other cartridge and it still was messing up again. I guess my next resort would be to re-solder the chips on the board.

[Pixelboy]

This lingering ghost data in RAM is pretty interesting. Like I said before, I played this game a lot on my ADAM when I was a kid, and never had any problems, so could this be a side-effect of aging RAM chips?

[mtshark7]

This lingering ghost data in RAM is pretty interesting. Like I said before, I played this game a lot on my ADAM when I was a kid, and never had any problems, so could this be a side-effect of aging RAM chips?

 

That could be possible...do you think if I re-solder the chips on the board that it would fix it?

[+Yurkie]

I highly doubt resoldering the cartridge ICs will do anything, other than you may ruin them completely from heat stress.

[mtshark7]

I highly doubt resoldering the cartridge ICs will do anything, other than you may ruin them completely from heat stress.

 

Hmm that could be another factor overlooked. I'm just glad it wasn't ur system, which I knew it wasn't cos all my other 30+ games play perfectly and I <3 that thing! Can't wait to get the working controller back so I can play 2 players.

 

But I really have nothing to lose in trying to re solder cos I have two of them; so I suppose its worth a shot and I'm confident in my soldering skills as well My 3-Modded 2600 is still alive and kicking

[+nanochess]

So I tried unplugging the power, turned the system on and off to drain out leftover power, waited then plugged it back in. Poped the game in and....it worked! I was soo happy, however, I turned it off then back on again and its back to its same old shit again

 

I even tried the other cartridge and it still was messing up again. I guess my next resort would be to re-solder the chips on the board.

The RAM content is random, so as already your cartridge worked, I suggest strongly (as Yurkie said) not to resolder the chips.

There are certain variations in RAM chips manufacturing that show different patterns on power on, so your Colecovision can be pretty unique.

Another idea, insert a different cartridge and then insert your Heist cartridge, this time using only power switch, it should do the trick as most other cartridges clean the RAM memory politely at start.